Boring is good.

My favourites are:

4. Slow mornings

6. Rest without guilt

7. A good night's sleep

8. Calm and boring days

9. Meaningful conversations

12. People who love you back.

Today's reading.

1 John 3:22–4:6

Beloved:
We receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit whom he gave us.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit
but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God,
because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
This is how you can know the Spirit of God:
every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh
belongs to God,
and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
does not belong to God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist
who, as you heard, is to come,
but in fact is already in the world.
You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them,
for the one who is in you
is greater than the one who is in the world.
They belong to the world;
accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world,
and the world listens to them.
We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us,
while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us.
This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Do you acknowledge Jesus the Son of God come in the flesh?

Dam korokoro

Surprisingly there are two discontinued dams on the Korokoro stream. 

The first was built by  the old Woollen works and is the closest to the entrance

The track starts off in a fairly  open steep valley.

But eventually enters one of the oldest broad leaf forests in the south  worthy of a Lord of The Rings scene. But everyone is in too much of a hurry to notice I expect.

There must be something important happening as most are running or cycling. No finding solace in the trickle of a stream or Tui song here. 

The old Petone Water supply dam is quite impressive. In those days it never occured to the designers that gravel would wash down and fill it up in just a few years.

The old cast iron pipe is impressive too and much of it remains under and beside the track. It's a good half hour walk to the  main dam and the pipe is in cast iron sections. Hard to imagine the effort involved in carting and joining those heavy sections back in 1909; not to mention digging the track for it, sometimes out of a rock face.

I can tick that off my to do list. Didn't see any trout either.

Don't touch your Brugmansia Vulcanicola.

Yesterday I planted some tomatoes, capsicum and a passion fruit around the lemon tree. It's a small garden where lots of good soil has built up from composting.

Can you spot the thrush?

I think its the same one nesting in RBB's front yard. He sent it over to steal my worms after I stole his Testore handle. I'll be putting netting around my tomatoes, that's for sure.

I bought a metal Tui to add to my native garden. To raise it I put it on bamboo sticks but now it looks like a Pukeko!

The plant in the background is Brugmansia Vulcanicola. It comes from Columbia. The flower is the reason I took a cutting and planted it, but it is also very toxic being related to the Nightshade genus. You are not supposed to even touch it without gloves I read yesterday. I pruned it back heavily, and I think I will remove it completely.

I read the TC is making good progress staging his house for sale. One benefit of being single is that I can move furniture around, do it once and right, no one to change her mind or say 'let's try it over here'.

Did Mass last evening. Will go to Bunnings early to get some staples for my bird netting.

Have a blessed fun day and repent for all those past sins. It's too late to repent when you die!

Robert's cello bag.

If you search "Cello Bag" you will get lots of these results

A cello bag can easily cost more than the original cello. A hard case with wheels can set you back thousands. (Kind of like TC backing a trailer).

Mine came with the cello and a bow (and Tune a Day music book Vol.1).

When I bought my cello I reached into the back pocket and pulled out the book. The salesman (Justin) in turn reached out as if to take it back. I quickly put it back. Fair is fair, I'd paid for it.

My cello bag also has two straps for putting over my shoulder. As I walked out the door this way RBB quickly reached out and moved the neck so it wouldn't hit the cross beam. That was my first cello lesson. Squat when going through doors.

I had thought of creating a new blog with this name. But after the Testore debacle I decided not to go there.

Better go, have to make breakfast and clean the lower case 'c' church.

Have fun but don't sin (and if you do go to confession). 

Friday

K went out to get a Tattoo yesterday so while I had the house to myself I put a couple of coats on the bathroom floor. For someone reason while I was at it engine room floors came to mind. 

It occured to me that they probably would have to paint the floors in a ship owing to them being metal!

This morning it was smoked salmon courtesy of K.

I combined all my religious statues for a nativity display. I intend to leave it on show  permanently.

The weather station is flashing rain so it will be a day inside for the last day of the holidays and some cello practise. No I don't keep a diary of my hours. 

Have a blessed day and don't sin.

Happy New Year

 Today we continue the theme of the "Heart". If you read my post yesterday, all well and good, if not it was about the importance of linking our souls/heart to the right hearts of Jesus and Mary especially when experiencing the grief of the loss of a loved one, and avoiding bad soul links.

Today's reading tells us to accept the free gift of the Holy Spirit/Son into our hearts and become heirs to the Kingdom of God.

The Pope spoke to this last year on this day

The silence of the Blessed Mother Mary can channel our hearts to where God can infuse into our souls the Kingdom. We can implore Mary to pray for us because of the love she has for us as our Mother and Queen of Heaven.

There is a 9 am Mass to attend. K and I will drive up to the burial site and say prayers. The deceased often need our prayers, especially if  they are still in purgatory.

I hope to do some more practise on Mary (cello), Joachim (violin) and John (Piano, John Brinsmead & Co). I feel very blessed to have them at my disposal.

I pray for all those that read this that they too will find the joy that comes from linking of hearts to Jesus and Mary.

"Have fun boys but don't sin".